Atlantis mibbie no funn efter aa is no sae dramatic a heidlyne as some anent this storie, but hit’s a muckil wey neirer the truith nor some ye’ll see in the media this weik. Ther monie fowk at haes sayed thae ken whaur the leigendarie ceitie o Atlantis is. Some trews at Atlantis wis in Crete, an wis destroyed bi a volcanic erupcioun, ithers at hit ligs aneith the Yles o Scillie aff Cornwall, yit ithers – at mibbie lykes thair whigmaleiries – trews it wis in Peru or wis a steid whaur aliens frae anither plenit byded.
Nou a group o American scientists haes eikit anither sonnet ti the leigends anent the ceitie furst descreived bi the auncient Greik philosopher Plato. The researchers claims at bi yuisin satellite imagerie, thae hae funn the ruins o an auncient ceitie in suddren Spain at thae says wis Atlantis. Aa ower the warld, newspapers an tv news haes the heidlyne, Atlantis funn – forgettin tae eik – ‘agin’.
Doucer scientists yaffs the investigacioun, fundit bi the American National Geographic Society, an trews hit is nae mair nor a fantyse. Ther a documentarie fillum anent the discoveries on the National Geographic Channel, at is awned bi the National Geographic Society. Monie o the fillums on the channel is no gey nait wi hou thae tell the science an the channel haes bene wyte afore o sensaciounalism in the pursuit o advertysin siller. Houeer the American group insists at thair theorie haes a siccar grundin in the archaeological fecks.
The teim o archaeologists an geologists yuised a mixter o deip penetracioun radar an digital cartographie fur tae locate rounn structures similar ti auncient descrevins o Atlantis. Dreilin at the steid, north o the ceitie o Cádiz in the Cota Doñana Naciounal Pairk, the scientists funn wuid fower thousan yeir auld yirdit deip ben the glaur. The steid is mair nor 100 km frae the Atlantic but the American scientists trews this auncient ceivilisacioun wis reddit awaa bi a tsunami. In 1755 a yirdquake in the Atlantic creatit a tsunami at wis mair nor 30 metre heich an malafoustert the Portuguese capital o Lisbon.
Speikin fur the group, Professor Richard Freund, o Hartford Universitie in Connecticut USA, sayed: “We used geophysics to map the subsurface and tell archeologists where to excavate … The signature of the walls. … the walls that you can see from space are actually there.”
But that alane daesnae pruive at the steid wis Atlantis. Core samples shaaed the waas datit ti aroun the time the city wis thocht tae exist. Than the teim luikit at whit haes bene screived anent Atlantis ower the centuries. Bi the wey o Plato, the ceitie wis juist outbye the Pillars o Hercules – the modren the Straits of Gibralter – and at hit haed been yirdit bi glaur. The research teim funn whit thae trew is the best evidence at this is Atlantis, memorial ceities locatit 150-myle inlaund frae the steid.
Professor Freund eikit: “And these were ancient cities that are built in the image of what Plato described as Atlantis.”
In the weik efter the frichtsome pouer o the Japanese tsunami haes myndit us aa o the micht o Mither Naiture. Houeer this weiks announcement frae the American teim luiks lik hit is shapin tae mak yuis o publeicitie anent the disaster as a wey o promotin thair televisioun documentarie.
The claims in the fillum wis rejectit fur haein nae siccar basis in scientific fack an fur mistellin pairtial results o ane investigacioun bi Spanish scientists. Sen 2005, Spanish scientists haes bene warkin at Doñana, a naciounal pairk an burd beild an hame ti the threitent Iberian linx, the lairgest wullcat in Europe.
Juan Villarías Robles, ane anthropologist wi the Spanish governments scienteific research institute, el Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Cientificas (CSIC), sayed at hit luikit lik Prof Freunds group haed sensaciounalysed thair wark.
Mr Villarias-Robles wis pairt of a team investigatin auncient ferm steids in Doñana, Europes lairgest flow kintra. He sayed his teim ettilt tae gie thair ain conclusiouns later this yeir. Monie Spanish archaelogists trews at the districk wis the hame o the auncient Tartassian ceivilisacioun at sauntit in the centuries afore the Roman invasioun o Hispania. Some archaeologists trews at this ceivilisacioun wis biggit bi fowk speikin ane airlie Keltick leid.
Ther ainerlie twaa things siccar about Atlantis. Yae: in a whein yeirs tyme, some ither scientists wull come alang and say thae hae funn hit in some ither steid. An twaa: advertysin executives wull conteinae tae yuis onie tragedie fur tae help thaim sell thair storie.
Wurds ye mibbie no ken
lig – to lie (referring to position, not ‘tell a lie’)
whigmaleirie – contrivance, fanciful decoration
eik – to add
sonnet – exaggerated story
yaff – criticise, chide
fantyse – fantasy
yird – earth, to bury
beild – sanctuary, refuge
glaur – heavy sticky mud
redd – to clear, to clean
malafouster – destroy, wreck
nait – precise, neat
wyte – accuse, accused
siccar – secure, certain
flow kintra – marshland (flow rhymes with plough, not with foe)
saunt – to vanish mysteriously
A note on Scots spelling: Aa and au. Au is the sound of the English o in Scottish Standard English words like god, modern (never as o in hole, goal). Aa is the same sound when it stands by itself at the end of a syllable without a following consonant. The exact pronunciation varies according to dialect. In West Central Scots it’s an o type sound, in North Eastern Scots it tends to be more of a flat back a type sound. Pronounce it as you do in your own local accent.
I make a spelling difference in word final position because in open syllables, Scots vowels are pronounced long – we hold the pronunciation for a fraction of a second longer. When a grammatical ending or other ending is added to such words, it stays long, and these vowels can then contrast with their short equivalents. Aw is the alternative spelling. It’s not necessary so I don’t use it. The spellings au/aa better represent the range of pronunciations found in modern Scots.
eg. haud ‘hold’, cauld ‘cold’, saunt ‘vanish’, daur ‘dare’ etc. but aa ‘all’, laa ‘law’, baa ‘ball’ etc.